


Pokémilla

by unchartedsea



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Characters Playing Pokemon GO, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 13:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8580712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unchartedsea/pseuds/unchartedsea
Summary: “If you’re looking for monsters, cupcake, there’s a smorgasbord of supernatural horrors right here in reality. I would think you’ve tackled enough of them to know.”Laura has an addiction to catching them all.





	

Starting again after the apocalypse is not quite smooth sailing.

Silas recuperated quickly enough after the Dean of Students nearly opened the gates of hell and obliterated humanity. Nothing it hasn’t seen in past centuries. The pit is now an unconventional subterranean dorm for freshman. Half the students decided not to transfer, lured back by the university’s prestige and greatly reduced tuition. Many professors were unfortunate casualties of the purges and rampages, but enough hid themselves in secret bunkers or magical portals and emerged relatively unscathed. Silas marches on as it always has.

The people that make up the school, however, aren't as resilient. It’s hard to transition back to academia after months in hiding, fighting desperately against unspeakable dark forces to rescue womankind. The Zetas are disbanded and the Summer Society was depleted, so there’s relative calm, but returning students miss the previous distractions. When it rains giant jellyfish on the first day of classes, forcing students to wade through their gooey remains, the air is pervaded with nostalgia.

Life is coping mechanisms. LaFontaine has a robot eye to tinker with and it has more alarming features every day. (They are still convinced that a flamethrower will come in handy.) Perry has months of color-coding to catch up on and organizes de-stress yoga classes. Carmilla spends long hours running up and down the Styrian mountains, doubling up on strength training to compensate for her regained mortality.

Laura’s choice is a surprise.

“If you’re looking for monsters, cupcake, there’s a smorgasbord of supernatural horrors right here in reality. I would think you’ve tackled enough of them to know.” The sun is setting. They’re walking to Carmilla’s place, a rather lush apartment that previously had housed the Vice President of Campus Life, who was permanently retired by the Dean to a dimension that nobody can locate. 

“It’s not the same, Carm.” Laura’s eyes remained glued to her phone, pointer finger swiping furiously. “They’re cute and colorful and full of good intent! Like this Vulpix.”

“The name Pokémon comes from pocket monsters, no?”

“Okay, fair, but real monsters are not fun and collectable.”

“Really?” Carmilla reaches over and easily snatches the phone away. Then she licks her crimson lips and shoots her girlfriend that look, the one that turns Laura’s legs to jellyfish goo, that makes her ache to be devoured in a maybe-not-just-figurative way. “Aren’t I enough of a catch?”

 Laura blushes. “I, uh…n-no fair. Why can’t I have both you and a Growlithe?”

“Truly?” Carmilla loops her arms around Laura’s waist, pulls her in close. “Don’t make me jealous of a cartoon character.”

“I wasn’t trying to—“ She’s cut off as Carmilla’s lips melt into hers.

They’re rudely interrupted as someone behind them clears their throat. It’s Mel, looking judgmental as always, and Kirsch grinning behind her. “This is a public sidewalk, you know. Please tell me you’re on your way to a room.”

“Hi, Laura! Hi, scary vampire! Actually, are you a vampire anymore? I was there when the creepy goddess lady gave your heart back, which was cool and all, but do you, like, still drink blood?”

Carmilla sighs in annoyance. “Show me your neck, meathead, and we’ll find out.”

Laura cuts in. “Mel! How are you?”

Mel shrugs. “About as well as you could expect after the months I spent helping you from a miserable pit and trying to save my sisters from certain doom.”

“Right. Kirsch?”

Kirsch scratches his head. “I mean, it totally sucks that the Zetas aren’t, like, a thing anymore. But I didn’t sign up to be an evil henchdude anyway. I’m trying to find a new passion, you know? Life is more than hanging with hot chicks. Except I am totally down whenever you chicas want to get coffee.”

Carmilla’s eyes could not roll farther into her head, but Laura grins. “Sure, or we could go on a walk. Do you play Pokémon?”  
  
“Whoa, no way! Show me your ‘dex, brah!”

Mel sighs. “In case you forgot, we need to go to Exorcism and Paranormal Self-Defense. I can always leave you behind, but don’t blame me if Professor Mrxkc curses you.”

“Oh man, not again. Sorry Laura! We should go to Hartwing later, though. I heard somebody caught a Blastoise.” The two of them wave and take off again.

Carmilla takes Laura’s hand. “Onwards?”

“Yeah.” Laura smiles sweetly at her, and Carmilla can feel her mortal heart overflow. 

*

The moon is high overhead, but Laura isn’t in her bed. Carmilla wasn’t doing the creepy stalker-vampire thing; she had just planned to return her sleeping girlfriend’s forgotten Communications textbook. When she materializes inside, however, the room is empty.

Where could Laura be at four in the morning? For a moment, fear seizes Carmilla’s heart. All sorts of awful memories flood her mind, the last one being Laura’s lifeless body.

She takes a deep breath. Rationally, this is not a reason to panic. But she might track Laura down just to make sure that she’s okay.

Carmilla finds her wandering the southeast end of campus with Laf, eyes glued to their phones. Seven _thousand_ exploding stars, they’re playing that infernal Pokémon game. “Is there a reason you two are wandering the edges of Silas territory? Need I remind you about the pitchforks and torches?”

Laf jumps. “Jeez, Nosferatu, give a scientist some warning.”

Laura gives her a sheepish look. “We couldn’t sleep, so we thought we’d hunt for some Gravelers. What are you doing here?”

Carmilla sighs. “I just wanted to return your textbook, but you weren’t there. I got worried.”

Laf adjusts their eye, which has not become less weird over time. “Not to ruin the romantic harmony here, but we do this almost every night. Better than lying awake or handling the night terrors.”

Laura sees Carmilla’s worried expression and cringes. “I…Laf, could we maybe wrap up?”

“Sure. I’ll probably head to the lab. I’m thinking that the jellyfish goo might be used to create some very useful neurotoxins, but there’s only one way to find out.”

“You want us to walk you back?”

“Eh, if any things go bump in the night I can finally test my flamethrower out. Later.”

As Laf leaves, Carmilla places her hand on the side of Laura’s face, tracing her dark circles. Laura leans into her touch. “Carm, I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t I notice how tired you were?”

“Um, I’ve been wearing some makeup to hide it. Drinking coffee. It’s not like I don’t sleep or something, it’s just…two hours or something! I mean, I don’t always get nightmares either.”

“Laura. Why didn’t you _tell_ me?”

Laura bites her lip. “Sorry. I…I made you worry for so long, you know? Since there’s nothing you can do. I just wanted to be okay again.” She tears up.

“Hey…” Carmilla wraps Laura in her arms and strokes her hair. “Is this really the solution?”  
  
Laura is now crying into Carmilla’s shirt. She tries to gather herself up. “I don’t know. I don’t know! But every night I dream about dying again, and _you_ dying, and about what we saw in there. It just feels like my whole world shrinks down to this terror and I can’t do anything about it!”

Carmilla wipes the tears from Laura’s face, trying not to choke up herself. “Me too. When I think about your body there, I want to rip the universe into shreds.”

“That’s…a reaction.” Laura hiccup-laughs. “So I do stupid things like playing Pokémon, you know? Because it’s mindless; it just helps me focus on something else.”

“I get it. But maybe we go back and cuddle and you get at least a REM cycle in. Okay?”

Laura’s gratefully buries her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Okay.”

*

Laura’s out like a light. She wakes up groggily, feeling her girlfriend’s warmth radiating into her side. “Mmmmph. What time is it?”

“Good morning, sunshine.” Carmilla grins, the sharp points of her canines glinting. “You slept for twelve hours. I emailed your teachers from your laptop.”

“Oh, shoot. I still have to turn that paper in.”

“I emailed it to Perry, and she dropped it off at your professor’s office hours.”

Laura kisses her cheek. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Carmilla strokes her hair softly. “So are you.” After a minute, she says, “By the way, is Charmander good?”

“Sorry?”

“I downloaded the app, but I don’t know anything so I just chose at random. That won’t put me at a disadvantage, will it?” She holds up her phone, where the screen is shining with a criss-crossing Silas map. “Also, what’s the need for all this color? I’m getting a cavity just looking at it.”

Carmilla fails to hide her self-satisfied smirk as Laura tackle-hugs her with a squeal. But maybe she wasn’t trying _that_ hard.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted something cute and happy after S3. Also judgy Carmilla who ends up giving in to make Laura happy is the best. We all know that she becomes hardcore addicted to the game and is also annoyed that Umbreon is not a thing yet.


End file.
